IREM, CCIM Alliance Nears Premiere

David Lane, IREM's 2004 national president, tells GlobeSt.com that the benchmark meeting is the upshot of a three-year strategy to form alliances with other organizations to strengthen the voice of the real estate industry's lobbying force, already one of the top powerbrokers on Capitol Hill, while adding educational benefits for members. The sharing of assets, so to speak, starts Feb. 19 in Tucson where the two organizations will host Commercial Real Estate 2004, a three-day event focused on deal-making, education and technology.

Lane yesterday stopped in Dallas as part of a yearlong swing of IREM chapter meetings. In the past month, he's been in Minneapolis, Chicago, Indianapolis and Austin. After Dallas, his whirlwind tour to talk about initiatives and educational strategies takes him to El Paso, San Antonio, Koehler, WI and sets him down in Phoenix in time for the Tucson meeting.

Lane is taking the temperature in the cities that he visits to get a handle on the recovery thus far. "We're far enough into the recovery that we're seeing real estate development pick up a little bit," says the Jackson, MS broker and developer who reports hearing about upticks in all but the professional office market. And that, he says, will come when new jobs surface.

Lane also is taking the opportunity in each city to talk up IREM First, an on-line, A-to-Z real estate tool being touted as "a milestone" for the organization. Launched last year, the six-component service will be expanded this year to include recruitment and a real estate dictionary. This year's game book also includes revamped regional leadership conferences, professional development seminars and Web site-based, real-time alerts in adjunct with Homeland Security.

Lanes says the end goal of the far-reaching initiatives is to hike membership globally by 10%. And, he says, it's a must-have in an organization with members whose average age is 48. "We are going to begin to experience a dramatic rise in retirement in the next five years," he told the 187 members attending the luncheon at the Dallas Renaissance North Hotel in North Dallas. "The more scarce we become the more we may seem to be irrelevant to others." The Chicago-based IREM is counter blocking the concern with a three-year membership recruitment and retention drive launched this year for its 85 chapters.